Seven Years
by xxBadWolf
Summary: In 2005, not long before he met Rose, The Doctor had met an interesting young girl who was fascinated with everything he did. He took her on one little trip, where nothing really and truly happened. Seven years later, that girl is fourteen, and he found her again. This time, the girl joins him for real, and they end up taking a few of her friends sometimes, on wonderful adventures.
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own Doctor Who, or anything like the TARDIS or The Doctor mentioned below. I do however, own my characters, and the area they are in.**

**Hannah - my OC**

**Madi is like a... temporary companion I suppose? She's only going to be around for this story, and maybe another. **

**I hope you guys like this. I'm kind of designing my own 'personal season' of Doctor Who. This is part 1/4 for the first 'episode' thingy. Let me know any ideas for other episodes, this is really the only one I have planned out.**

Hannah, a young fourteen year old girl, was having a sleep-over with another girl, named Madi. They had spent all night laughing about things and prank-calling people. It was three o'clock in the morning, and they were settling into bed. Hannah pulled out a trundle for Madi to sleep on, and they turned on their personal cell phones to check any last minute things on Face Book or Instagram. Eventually, Madi drifted off, still typing something on her phone. Hannah looked down at her and laughed. She had these strange 'Motherly Instincts' that would kick in at times like these. She bent down, to take Madi's phone and turn it off. She pulled up the blankets a bit more, so Mad I wasn't too cold in the _freezing_ cold room. Then, Hannah pushed the button on top of her phone that turned it off, and closed her eyes for just a few seconds.

A sound, that Hannah had only heard once personally, before in her life, began to fade into Hannah's room. She knew that sound better than anything. She'd heard it on her favorite television show many times over, so she sat up quickly and looked in the direction of the sound. Sure enough, a big blue box was fading into view. There was only one box like that on earth, or in the entire universe. There was no other way to describe the sound, than to call it the TARDIS noise.

Hannah hopped out of bed, stepping on Madi's foot so it would bend, and hurt just a bit to wake her up. Hannah got the immediate reaction she wanted.

"What the hell-!?" Madi began to yell at Hannah, before Hannah cut her off, pointing at the TARDIS, smiling with joy.

"It's _here_!" Hannah whispered, laughing a tiny bit. Her blue eyes gleamed, and her long brown hair rested on her shoulders.

Madi looked around, noticing the TARDIS, and how some sort of wind had blown things around Hannah's room. None of it seemed real to her, so after a few seconds she said, "Oh. I'm dreaming." She had said it as if it was a fact, no question about it.

Hannah stared at her incredulously. "How could you say that? Of course you're not!"

"Prove it," Madi said, as if she knew there was no way that Hannah could possibly be right.

Hannah looked down and saw an assortment of pens and pencils scattered around her feet. _How convenient_, Hannah thought to herself as she bent down and picked up a rather large pen. She clicked it, so the tip was out, and threw it at Madi's temple. It hit her square where Hannah was aiming, and Madi immediately moved her hand up to massage the spot it hit.

"There. You're not dreaming. If you were, now you're awake!" Hannah told Madi as if she hadn't thrown a somewhat pointy object at her.

Hannah was still smiling, nothing could change her mood at that moment. She heard the TARDIS door creaking behind her, and she whipped around to see The Doctor. Madi moved her hand down to her lap, moving her gaze to see what was happening.

A man stepped out of the big blue box, looking around at the other side of Hannah's room. When he turned his head in her direction he laughed. "Oi! Hannah! It's been forever," he said, opening his arms as if he wanted a hug.

Hannah didn't take a second to think, and she ran over to him, wrapping her arms around him. He hugged her back, still smiling.

When she let go of him, Hannah looked up at his face. "Seven years. It's been seven years! And, you've changed so much. Everything about you is different from the last time I saw you. You look younger even," she said to him, her voice edged with laughter.

"Hey," the man said, mock-sternly, "I made a girl wait fourteen years."

"Point taken," Hannah laughed, beaming.

From somewhere behind them, an annoyed voice piped up. "Okay, I'm dreaming. Doctor Who is a stupid show," Madi said, and when Hannah looked closely at her in the dark, she almost looked angry. Madi was studying the man, who she had determined to be The Doctor. She just couldn't tell why she would be dreaming about something she cared so little about.

Madi had brought up something that Hannah wasn't exactly sure how she'd tell The Doctor. She didn't even know if she wanted to tell him about the TV show, but looking at him now, she didn't think he'd really care.

Everything happened at once, the second those words left Madi's mouth, The Doctor looked at Hannah, confused. "Doctor What? Show?" he asked, completely and absolutely puzzled.

"Umm, well, there's a show… I'm not quite sure how it came about, actually, but there's a television show about your life and adventures…" Hannah explained, awkwardly, no longer smiling. Now that she'd said it, she knew it wasn't something that would have come up in a future conversation for a long time between the two of them.

"Okay then!" The Doctor laughed, clapping his hands together, and looking back at the girl he hadn't noticed until a few second's ago. "And, who's this?" he asked, gesturing to Madi.

Hannah was glad The Doctor didn't really seem to care about the TV show, and she was smiling a bit again. When she looked at Madi, and back at The Doctor, she thought about how she'd answer his question for a moment. She wasn't best friends with the girl, but she still liked her somewhat. "Well, she's… she's my _friend_," Hannah replied, slightly exaggerating the last word. She formed air-quotes with her fingers and casually moved them up to her neck to 'scratch' an itch.

The Doctor, catching her hint, nodded. "_Oh_. Okay-" he looked back at Madi. "Wait, you think I'm stupid?" he asked, offended. When Madi didn't reply, he turned back to Hannah once again to ask her the question he originally intended to ask, dismissing the other girl. "So, Hannah, are you coming this time or not?"

Hannah's smile changed a bit, instead of a completely innocent, extremely happy, "this is the best day of my life" kind of smile, it became a bit sad, but only for a split second. She doubted anyone noticed, and she replied to his question. "Well, let's see. I've lose just about every bit of faith in America, I can't get along on my own in England, I only have three friends, and my family is a bit too clingy," she said, before she paused as if she was thinking about it for a moment. "Nah, I think I'll just stay here," she said sarcastically, before she laughed.

The Doctor smiled. "It's funny how much people change in seven years. Alright then, get in," he laughed the last part, motioning to the TARDIS, and followed her in. Before he shut the door, he poked his head back out, and he looked at Madi. "What did you say your name was?"

Madi still looked a bit annoyed, but it was fading away at every second. "I'm Madison," she said.

The Doctor looked her over. Her red hair and something else about her attitude reminded him of Amy. "Alright, Madison, do you want to come?"

"No. What made you think that?"

The Doctor looked back at Hannah, and then again to Madi. "Well, I have to say, you're coming with us."

"No, I'm not," she said firmly. "If you make me, that's kidnapping, and I'll call the police."

"I'm in a police _box_, if you haven't noticed. Now come on," The Doctor said, motioning her inside.

"Won't it be cramped with three people?"

Somewhere in the TARDIS, Hannah called out, "No, it won't be! Come on Madi, it's not kidnapping if you're gone _three_ minutes. You'll only get a chance to do this once!"

The Doctor smiled at Madi, and leaned back into the TARDIS. He ran up to the control panel, but he didn't do anything, and, as if he knew it, Madi came inside the big blue box. She halted in amazement, speechless, but then her eyes focused again, and she looked at the doctor warily.

"Three minutes? How will we only be gone three minutes?" She asked him.

The Doctor looked disappointed, and Hannah couldn't help but laugh when he said, "_Most_ people say, 'It's bigger on the inside.' _But_, anyways, you're in the TARDIS now. You could be back an hour ago."

When Madi looked more confused than she had the entire day, Hannah giggled, and smiled at the two of them. If they weren't in a box that was bigger on the inside, about to go anywhere or everywhere in all of time and space itself, she'd call this a normal day with her usual friends.

The Doctor ran back up the steps to the console and stood next to Hannah. "You have everywhere to choose from. Where to?" he said to her, ready to start the TARDIS again.

Hannah smiled at the console, and she looked up at The Doctor. "Honestly, anywhere without Weeping Angels, if you don't mind."

"Well, I can do that," The Doctor smiled, and as he pushed some buttons and pulled some levers, they were launched into space.


	2. Chapter 2

**I don't have much to say. Most of the excitement will ****_probably_**** happen in the next chapter, so don't give up on me yet. I'm having trouble developing Madi's character. (honestly, if you guys don't like her too much, I'm obviously doing a good job because that's what I was going for.) Anyways, who cares about that stuff. Read on!**

**I do not own Doctor Who, any of its characters, or creations like the TARDIS.**

**I do own the creation of the Glissenthi, who just happened to appear in a doodle a week or so ago. So if you're wondering that's how they were created. **

**Hannah - My OC**

**Madi - My character (based off a 'friend' of mine IRL)**

As they were traveling through space, Hannah sat near the console talking to The Doctor, and Madi explored the control room. The Doctor had warned her several times not to touch anything, and therefore, Madi was terrified if she touched anything at all the entire place would explode or something like that. Not much was said between Hannah and The Doctor, because she didn't want to bring anything up that would remind him of a sad memory.

Eventually, after a few moments of silence, and a lot of thinking from Hannah, she asked The Doctor, "Doctor, are there places where there are aliens that don't talk? That are just… Animals?"

The Doctor looked at her quickly before examining the console again, looking for some different buttons. "Even animals talk, but yes," he flipped a few more switches, and the TARDIS lurched, as if it was changing direction, "I know exactly what you're saying. I'm taking you to one now." He moved around to the other side of the console, and Hannah couldn't see what he was doing. "Here we go! Big, giant lizards for Hannah."

Hannah couldn't help but smile, trying to hold back a laugh. "Big, giant lizards?" She sounded very amused by what The Doctor had said.

He looked around the console at her. "Yes, I just didn't want to call them by the name humans gave them."

Hannah, still amused, asked, "Which is what?"

"Bog Sharks."

"Sharks?" a concerned voice, coming from somewhere neither Hannah, nor The Doctor could see, piped up. The voice could only belong to Madi.

"No, that's just what they're called. They're more like small dragons without wings." The Doctor came back around the console, close to Hannah, to look at a screen, so he knew where they were.

The subject of the alien's name amused Hannah completely, so she couldn't just let it go. "Really? They're called 'bog sharks'?" She couldn't help but laugh a tiny bit.

"I didn't come up with the name!" The Doctor said exasperatedly. "It was humans. No matter how amazing or wonderful you guys are, in general you're terrible at naming things."

Hannah smiled, and raised up her hands defensively. "Okay, fine. I agree. Horrible with names. Although, most names are in Latin. You said that was the name the humans gave them. Is there another name? A name that the _rest_ of the universe calls them?"

"Actually-" The Doctor was broken off, mid-sentence from another, more muffled voice from Madi.

"It doesn't matter _what_ they're called. They sound dangerous!" The other girl called from a hall. Hannah heard irritation in Madi's voice, which always tended to make her laugh. Madi was always getting upset about the smallest things.

Hannah leaned forward, so she might be able to see where Madi was, and called down the hall. "Calm down, and if the conversation bothers you, don't listen!" she said, laughing.

The Doctor smiled at her. He liked that, as in her personality. She didn't get annoyed, and she certainly didn't _seem _to be cross. Perhaps she hadn't changed so much from the sweet, seven year old girl he knew once. Hannah was still looking down the hall she believed Madi to be down, and she smiled in satisfaction as Madi didn't seem to have an answer.

The Doctor suddenly remembered what he was about to say. "Anyways, yes. There is a name that the rest of the universe, well, _most _of the universe calls them." When Hannah looked up at him with a curious look on his face, he continued. "They're called Glissenthi. In fact, they look quite dangerous, but really they're quite nice. They've never been bothered by outside civilizations, and they've always had plenty of food."

The TARDIS lurched, as it stopped. Hannah was thrown off her seat, and everyone heard a crashing noise in the direction Madi was in. The Doctor, however, stumbled a bit, but regained his balance quickly, since he was so used to the TARDIS.

"I believe that means we're _here_," The Doctor said. "Hannah, go outside, and wait for me, and your friend. I need to go grab my coat."

Hannah smiled as he left, and opened the TARDIS door. Immediately she was met by a screaming glissenthi. Its teeth were pure white, and flashed less than a foot in front of her face. Its pale-green body was long and thin, she could see its ribs jutting out the side. It has pink, worm-like whiskers sprouting behind the creature's jaw, and long, bony spikes shot out of its neck. Its tail had the same pink whiskers near the tip, but it was barbed in between each side as if it was poisonous. When it closed its mouth, it snarled at Hannah, who stopped breathing and was slowly backing up into the TARDIS. The glissenthi raised one arm, tipped with two sliver claws with black tips, and swiped at her. Hannah stumbled backwards, feeling the claws barely brush her shirt. As she squirmed backwards, away from the attacking creature, she kicked at the door, slamming it shut so it couldn't follow her.

Madi had just reached the end of the hall, back into the control room to see Hannah kick the door shut, and The Doctor sprinted in, shoving his arm through the last sleeve of his jacket. Hannah was breathing shakily, staring at the door with wide eyes.

Quickly, Hannah pushed herself up, and turned to look at The Doctor. As fast as it had happened, she recovered from her scare, and stared him down. "They're nice, he said," she said simply, with an edge to her tone, as if she was expecting a reasonable explanation from him.

The Doctor just looked back at her, utterly surprised. He ran to the door and opened it, only to quickly dodge a barbed tail lashing out at him, and he slammed the door shut, leaning against it to make sure nothing else opened it.

"Something's wrong. _Very_ bad," he said, running up to look at the screen of the console. He glanced down at the two girls. "They're everywhere," The Doctor breathed, pulling a map out of his pocket. "Aha! There is a small, human, laboratory not far from here."

Hannah ran up next to him, to look at the map. Her mouth opened a bit in disbelief. "_Small_!?" she said, with much exaggeration. "That looks like it takes up _dozens_ of acres of land."

"Yes it does. It's small," The Doctor replied simply, teleporting the TARDIS to the laboratory.

Hannah jumped down the stairs to Madi. "Hey, are you doing okay? You look pale. You knew the TARDIS could travel through time and space, right? After all I've been telling you about for the past few years, I thought-" she said, before she was broken off.

"How can _you_ be okay? You nearly had your face eaten off by that thing out there! How can you just, recover? What if it gets in?" Madi said, in a panicked voice. "Hannah, what if we die out here?"

"_First_," The Doctors voice sounded from behind them, "It can't get in because it's not out there. I wouldn't be surprised if the TARDIS was surrounded with guns though. I don't like guns. Especially when they're pointed at me, and second, well, what if you do? It's all a dream, isn't it?" The Doctor said with a teasing voice.

Hannah gave The Doctor a sharp look, not happy with what he just told Madi. She hugged her, and said reassuringly, "It's okay. You won't die. I promise. I will _not_ let you do anything that puts you in danger." She smiled at Madi, a devilish look on her face, "Even if it means I have to tie you to a chair."

Madi glared at her, but Hannah just laughed, nudging Madi's arm. Hannah turned to look at The Doctor who had just opened the TARDIS door, and she heard the click of guns, ready to shoot. She saw him walk out, raising his arms up, and she followed him to peek out the door. Security guards, at least five of them, aimed their guns at the two of them. A tall, thin woman walked up to them, with an angry look on her face.

"Who the _hell_ are you, and _what_ in God's name are you doing here?"


	3. Chapter 3

The woman took another step towards them. "Well, who are you?" the woman said, tersely. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a tight bun, and her lips were a bit _too_ red. Her eyes stood out against her jet-black eyeliner, and she wore a tight-fitting, dark business suit.

The Doctor looked her over, a bit stunned. When he focused again he began to speak. "Uh, yes, hello! As most people say. I'm The Doctor, and this is my-" he stopped for a second and looked at Hannah, searching for the right word, "This is my _niece_." Hannah's eyes flashed for a second, as if the thought he would tell anyone they were related was absurd.

The woman looked at Hannah, disapprovingly. A child did _not_ belong here. None of them did. "How did you get in here?" she demanded again. She looked at them sharply, with wary eyes, as if they would attack at any second.

The Doctor dismissed the question, ignoring it completely. "The question is, why are _you _here? This place was supposed to be abandoned years ago. The study on the Glissenthi was finished!"

The woman's eyes widened, as she looked at him disbelievingly. "Where have you been the past five years!? The Glissenthi changed, due to an experiment gone wrong, and it spread. It was _supposed _to boost their immune system, but something wasn't right. It altered the Glissenthi's genetics entirely."

A look of disgust passed over The Doctor's face. "The Glissenthi had been fine!" he protested, beginning to sound angry.

The woman was becoming annoyed with The Doctor. "No, they hadn't! A virus killed off most of them. A survey before the final experiment showed there were five of them left in existence. We didn't have a choice; we couldn't let them go extinct. We took one and tried to make the immune system stronger, but it changed it. The creature developed a poison, and it became stronger and violent. It was a new species entirely.

The Doctor's face darkened. "And so it bred with other Glissenthi, and the mutation spread."

"Yes. Everyone on New-Earth knows that. The journey to this planet itself has been the biggest expedition in years!" The woman said, exasperatedly. How could these strange people not know that?

The Doctor looked furious. "You altered an _entire_ species! That's just as bad as killing them all! You may as well call them 'Glissenthi 2.0' because that's what they are: the second version of a wonderful species."

The woman straightened up, stood with tight lips. "Well, that may be so, but it has given us _much_ more research to do." She dismissed the security, who had, up until that point, their guns trained on Hannah and The Doctor.

The Doctor began to mutter something about not liking guns, but the woman broke him off, saying, "Come. I'll show you the progress we have so far."

As she began to walk down the hall, Hannah stepped completely out of the TARDIS, no longer hovering in the doorway. She just looked at The Doctor, disbelievingly. "Niece?" she asked, as if it was still the strangest thing she'd ever heard.

The Doctor just looked at her, almost innocently. "Well, you're not my daughter."

Hannah just shook her head, and looked back at something moving in the corner of her eye. Madi had just stepped out of the TARDIS, and The Doctor's face dropped as if he had completely forgotten about her. Which, of course, he probably _had, _since he mouthed, "Oops," at Hannah so Madi didn't see. Hannah giggled. Madi just looked at Hannah, wondering what on earth she could be laughing about.

The Doctor glanced back at the woman who was about halfway down the hall by now. He gave the two teenage girls a half-hearted smile, and murmured, "Geronimo."

The trio followed the woman, who led them into a large room. There were stacks of paper everywhere, and there must have been at least ten computers for tracking and documenting information on the Glissenthi. One paper in specific caught Hannah's eye, and she went over to look at it. It had the anatomy of a Glissenthi on it, and on the back, close ups of different parts of the body, such as the eyes, feet, and tail, were documented with information about them. Another paper, that had been below the one Hannah had picked up contained information about the Glissenthi's defenses. Information on its poison, claws, scale-thickness, and senses were all listed on it.

Before Hannah could take a closer look at it, The Doctor grabbed it, and quickly looked over the paper. He looked up with concern and said to the woman, "You need to get out of here, _now._"

"Well, Doctor, in case you were wondering, I'm Stacy Freeman, and I'm in charge of this facility, and I can assure you this: Everyone is perfectly safe-" she was cut off by a roar of a Glissenthi. The roar sounded like a nightmare. It sounded like a scream combined with nails being raked down a chalkboard. Hannah jumped a bit, startled, and Madi made a sound close to a choked scream. When Hannah turned back to look at her, she had turned pale. The Doctor, however, looked up at the woman, and he glared at her.

"You brought one in _here_!? You don't need to do any more experiments! You've already ruined the creatures. Plus, it's not safe."

Stacy gave The Doctor a challenging look. "Oh, is that so?" she retorted.

"Look at your studies! The claws can tear through a foot of steel, and the venom will have a person dead in an hour! How long have you had that thing in here?" The Doctor said, infuriated.

Stacey froze and looked stunned. "W-we just brought the first one in about fifteen minutes ago," she stuttered, looking nearly terrified. She hadn't even come close to considering what The Doctor had just brought up.

"Was it sedated?" The Doctor asked, looking as if he had forgotten about being mad, and he was thinking about something completely different.

"Yes. Sort of. It was conscious, but it can't move its limbs," Stacey replied quickly. "It'll last about another five minutes."

"What's the point of that type of sedation?" The Doctor muttered under his breath, but Hannah heard him, and she had to agree. "How many staff members are there?" he asked aloud.

Stacey though for a second, as if trying to remember. "There aren't too many. If I remember correctly, there are one hundred and eight people working here."

"Five minutes to save one hundred and eight people." The Doctor said this to himself, but loud enough for everyone to hear. He looked back at Hannah. "I'm not sure if I can do this."

Hannah quickly remembered a fact on the paper she had picked up a few minutes ago. "Well, you have to try. Look at this," She pointed to part of the paper, "It's not too fast, compared to mast animals. Its size prevents it from that." The Doctor looked like he was thinking about that when Madi interrupted his thoughts.

"Why can't we just kill it?"

The Doctor glanced up at her, before looking back down at the papers he held. "We can't. It hasn't done anything wrong, and if it does, it'll be doing it out of instinct. If you were locked up in a strange place, by strange creatures, wouldn't you try to fight your way out?" He folded the papers and put them in his pocket. "Stacy, call everyone here. We have about…" he glanced up at the clock. "Somewhere under two minutes to get everyone out, and off this planet. You've created one of the deadliest creatures alive."

Hurriedly, Stacey pressed a button and spoke over the intercom. "Everyone, report to lab thirteen. I repeat, lab thir-" she was cut off by a terrifying roar that shook the building.

The Doctor looked guilty. "Okay. We had about fifteen seconds.

"Time's Up."


	4. Chapter 4

The unnerving sound of metal being cut echoed through the entire facility. Men and women piled into the lab, some of them looked like they were panicking, and others looked irritated that their work was interrupted. As The Doctor glanced around, he estimated there was about eighty or ninety people gathered in the room. Hannah and Madi were still standing by the desk where they had found the pile of papers about the Glissenthi.

The Doctor grabbed a plastic chair near him, and pulled it closer so that he could stand on it. The entire room fell nearly silent when he stood up. "Okay!" he began, looking around the room. "Most people are here. Long story short: a very mad, very dangerous animal is on the loose. Questions?" The Doctor quickly glanced around the room, but before anyone could say anything he began talking again. "Good! I don't have time to answer them. Um… Madiii…" he trailed off, trying to spot her in the room of people. When she made eye contact with him when hearing her name, The Doctor spoke up again. "Take these men back to the TARDIS," he said, turning back to most of the staff. "Under no circumstances do any of you leave once you're inside it"

A man that was near Stacy Freeman turned to her and began to object what The Doctor had said. Before he could get a word out, Stacy spoke clearly to everyone in the room, "I want all of you to do as this man says." The man closed his mouth and looked at the ground, even though no one really paid attention to him.

While the adults in the room were discussing things, Madi looked back at Hannah and asked her, "Why me?" Her voice was barely louder than a whisper, but Hannah still heard her.

Hannah looked Madi over for a moment. "Because, The Doctor is trying to do his best for everyone, and I promised you that you couldn't get hurt. This is one of the ways to keep you safe." She smiled encouragingly, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Okay! Everyone, follow this girl!" The Doctor's voice broke out above the crowd, and when Hannah looked up at him, he was pointing right over her shoulder to Madi. She hugged her friend.

"You'll be fine. I'll be back soon enough," she soothed. Madi nodded, and turned away to head back down the hall to where the TARDIS was.

As the men and women began filtering through the door into the hall, The Doctor called after them, "Also, please try not to touch anything."

After all of the workers had left the room, the only people left were Hannah, Stacy, and The Doctor. Hannah approached him, curious about why he didn't send her with the rest of them. She was grateful that he hadn't. She wouldn't have stayed behind anyways.

"And what about me, Doctor?" she said, as he stepped down from the chair. He looked over at her and smiled, amused, even though they were about to enter an area where a very dangerous creature was lurking.

"I'd send you back to the TARDIS, but judging by the look on your face, there would be no possible way to keep you in there, _so_ you're going to look through that pile of papers and try to find what may stop a Glissenthi from attacking and killing us all."

Hannah smiled to herself and thought, _just because I'm not an adult doesn't mean I can't do anything, and I'm glad The Doctor can see that_. She headed back over to the desk, and grabbed a few papers. She started skimming through them, looking for things a Glissenthi wouldn't have an advantage in, or what could scare it off. She reached a point on a paper titled "Adaptations" and read through it more carefully.

Just as she began to read through that section of that paper, the distinctive screaming roar of a Glissenthi sounded from not far away.

The Doctor looked up and glanced over at Hannah. "Faster. You're taking too long."

"I'm working on it!" Hannah said, not looking away from the paper. "All I can seem to find are things it can do."

"Well that's something. We need to start somewhere." The Doctor was pacing, trying to think. All he knew of the Glissenthi was before they changed, and he highly doubted that knowledge would help them now.

Hannah skimmed back through the paragraph she'd just read. "It can climb nearly anything that isn't completely vertical, it's a fantastic hunter, strong jaws, and it seems to enjoy swimming," she said before looking up, "As random as that may be…" the fact that a creature like that enjoyed swimming seemed rather unhelpful at the moment. The Doctor, however, seemed to find that very helpful.

He turned to Stacy. "Is there any chance that this place has a pool?"

"No"

The Doctor looked a little less hopeful. "Is there any major water source nearby?"

"No, just underground."

His excitement faded just as quickly as it came. "Well, that's just unhelpful." He stood there for a moment, Hannah finished reading through the paper she had been working on, and walked over to him. Before she could say anything, The Doctor looked up. "That wasn't all of the staff, and that's why we're still here. Where would everyone else be?"

Stacy thought about it for a moment and concluded, "They're all probably upstairs."

"So that's where we're headed." The Doctor spun around and headed for the door, and opened it slowly to make sure there wasn't a giant reptile anywhere nearby. He opened it all the way and motioned for Hannah and Stacy to follow him down the hall. At the end of the hall a lift seemed to be waiting for them, and the second Hannah pressed the button to go up, the doors opened, and the three of them piled in.

As soon as all of them were in the lift, the Glissenthi turned down the hallway, and began charging towards them. When the door wasn't responding to closing fast enough, The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver, and shut the door. Hannah hit the up button, and they heard banging against the door, like the Glissenthi was trying to get in. It stopped as soon as the lift started moving up, but they could still heard the Glissenthi scraping around below. When the door opened, Stacy ran over to a panel next to a speaker, and pressed a button to make an announcement over the intercom.

"The building is being evacuated, to do so in an orderly fashion, gather by the lift upstairs."

A woman turned the corner, followed by a few men. Within five minutes, about fifteen people had gathered. Nothing much was said, but a few people glanced at Hannah and The Doctor, as if they knew they didn't belong there.

"Right then! We can't take the lift down; the Gissenthi should be waiting right down there. Are there any stairs?" The Doctor asked, even though he knew there probably were, he wanted to know where they were.

Hannah had wandered a little ways down the hall, and the moment she turned the corner, she nearly tripped down the stairs. "They're back here, Doctor!" she called towards him. He set off towards her, the scientists and other staff following them.

Together, all of them headed down the stairs. Once down, they rounded a few corners when a big crash was heard a few doors down. It sounded like something had fallen to the ground, and glass had shattered. The Doctor moved to the front of the crowd, and went over to the door. When he opened it, Hannah was right behind them. Fumes of mixed chemicals flowed out of the room. Despite the danger, The Doctor headed in, and everyone followed him. A reptilian hiss sounded from the other side of the room, and The Doctor turned to see the Glissenthi, crouched to the ground defensively.

Hannah stepped up next to The Doctor to look at it. "Don't move. I've volunteered to work with all sorts of animals so I've had to deal with aggressive dogs, horses, cats, snakes, and one really nasty lizard. I have an idea of what to do." The Doctor looked like he wanted to protest, but he didn't say anything because he knew Hannah was right. As she moved towards the creature, Hannah crouched down a bit. "You poor thing. You're hurt, aren't you?"

The Glissenthi hissed. It's eyes looked warily around the room, but they settled on Hannah, and it watched her every move. She put her hands out, trying to show the creature that she wasn't going to hurt it. "It's okay," she whispered repeatedly, trying to soothe it.

The Doctor remembered he had a paper on the Glissenthi in his pocket. He pulled it out, and skimmed a certain part he remembered that would be helpful at the moment. "They're supposed to be really smart, and can understand some gestures," he said, trying to help Hannah.

She nodded, and motioned to it to relax. She knelt down to show submission, and she made sure not to make eye contact, remembering that it can be seen as a challenge to some animals. "It's okay." She repeated. "Where are you hurt?" she motioned to a small cut on the back of her hand that had already scabbed over.

When it understood what she was trying to say, the Glissenthi shifted a paw that looked raw, and getting worse from some chemicals it had spilt on it.

The wound caught The Doctor's eye, and he knew exactly what would happen if Hannah touched it. "Hannah, don't touch it. Whatever you do, do _not_ touch its wound. If it thinks in any way that you're trying to hurt it, it will kill you."

She looked back at The Doctor and nodded. Looking around the room, Hannah saw an empty plastic box. Slowly, she backed away from the Glissenthi, which was still watching her every move, and headed over to the box. Once she had it, Hannah filled it up with water from a nearby sink, and she brought it back over to the reptile. _If you're as smart as The Doctor says, you'll know how to clean your paw, _she thought before backing away to stand next to The Doctor.

The Glissenthi took a step forward to investigate the box of water that had been place in front of it. When it pulled itself forward, its tail caught on a rack, which surprised the creature. The Glissenthi ran past the group of people, lashing its tail. One of the poisonous barbs on the tip of its tail cut Hannah's arm. The poison burned, making Hannah scream in pain.

Within a second, The Doctor ran over to her. "You're okay. Are you okay?" he said, rushed. He looked over Hannah's face which had turned pale. She was shaking, and her breathing was becoming shallow. "No, you're not okay. You're dying." He looked her almost helplessly. Facts he had read earlier ran through his mind. The Glissenthi were poisonous, and their poison could kill a person under an hour.

Hannah's arm burned, and she held the cut tightly. She had fallen to her knees, and it was getting harder and harder to breathe. "Doctor- It burns!" she gasped.

"I know. I know. We're going to take care of you," he said, trying desperately to think of any way to save her. He looked up at the men and women that had gathered at the elevator. "Is there any chance that _any_ of you are doctors?"

Stacy looked at him, baffled. "I thought you were."

"Well whether I am or not, I've never dealt with this poison before, have I? So, one of you needs to help her!"  
A short man with short, black hair came forward from the back of the group. "I may have something that could help. I've been working on an anti-venom-"

The Doctor broke him off. "Wonderful. That's better than what we had ten seconds ago." When no one moved he said, "Well go on then! Help her! And be careful. It's still around." He was referring to the Glissenthi. "The rest of you are coming with me, I'm taking you all home."

The Doctor lead everyone down to the TARDIS, where Madi was waiting nervously by the console. The men and women who had just entered marveled at the bigger-on-the-inside technology, and The Doctor set off with them. He landed the TARDIS on new earth, and let everyone out.

The Doctor looked at Stacy. "When people ask you how you returned, it takes too long to explain the TARDIS. Just answer why." Without another word, The Doctor returned to the planet they were just on, with Madi.

He ran up the stairs to the room he saw the scientist bring Hannah, and Madi decided to follow him this time. When The Doctor found the room Hannah was in, he took a step back in surprise. The Glissenthi was standing protectively by Hannah. When The Doctor remembered its wound, he glanced down at the creature's paw. The skin didn't look like it was boiling anymore, so it must have washed the acid off. He assumed it used the water Hannah had provided, and that's why it was returning the favor, by keeping her safe.

The scientist walked up to The Doctor, a look of awe and curiosity on his face. "It's amazing isn't it? I didn't know that these creatures would do that. Brilliant, they are."

The Doctor didn't want to approach it, and he wasn't very comfortably with it near Hannah. "They're still aggressive. When will she be able to return?" he asked, referring to Hannah.

"You say that like you know she'll recover." The Scientist gave The Doctor a look of worry. He didn't want his hoped brought up, just to be crushed.

"Of course she will," The Doctor answered, sharply. She had to recover. If she didn't it would be his fault for bringing her here. He repeated his first question. "How long?"

Before the scientist could answer, Madi, who had been eyeing the Glissenthi, asked, "What's going on?"

The Doctor turned to her. "Hannah was scratched by that creature, and the poison nearly killed her."

The scientist answered The Doctor's question. "A few hours, at least."

Madi began to move over to the bench where Hannah lay, and the Glissenthi let out a defensive hiss.

"Madi, let's wait out in the hall. I don't want you to get hurt as well." The Doctor lead her outside, where Madi sat on a bench, and The Doctor paced, impatient.

Madi asked a lot of questions. Some were about time travel, and others were about The Doctor's past. When the questions reminded him of his past companions, and what happened to them, he sent her back to the TARDIS, his worry for Hannah worse than ever. _What if she didn't- no. She was going to survive this. She had to. _The Doctor kept thinking this to himself over and over. He wouldn't consider the chance that she would die.

After two or three hours passed, Hannah walked out into the hall. When The Doctor looked up to say something to her, she motioned for him to be quiet. "It fell asleep. I'm afraid if it wakes up, it won't let me go," she said, referring to the Glissenthi.

Without saying anything, The Doctor pulled her into a tight hug. The stood there like that for a minute, until The Doctor let her go.

"I was so worried you weren't going to make it."

As the shock got a chance to settle in, Hannah's eyes began to water, but she refused to cry. "I thought I was going to die." Her voice broke, and The Doctor smoothed her hair, trying his best to comfort her.

"It's okay. Let's get back to the TARDIS."

When the scientist came out of the room, The Doctor led the way down to his ship, to take the scientist back home. When they got to New Earth again, the two men thanked each other for their help, and The Doctor left, taking the two girls back to the first Earth. Just like he promised, they arrived three minutes after they left.

Madi wasn't talking, but she seemed like she was thinking about something. When Hannah told her they were home, Madi gladly left the TARDIS. It was weird in there to her. Hannah walked out, and The Doctor followed her to the door.

"I'm not sure what you're thinking, since you nearly died, but would you like to travel with me again?" The Doctor asked her.

Hannah smiled and nodded. "Yes, of course! It's wonderful."

The Doctor laughed. "Wonderful! Madi, would you like to come as well?"

Madi looked up and shook her head. "No. I can't do-"

The Doctor broke her of. "I understand. Time travel just isn't for some people." He looked back at Hannah. "I'll be back in about two weeks. There are a few things I need to take care of."

With that, he turned back into the TARDIS, and in a few seconds, it began to fade away, the noise echoing through the silent house. Hannah stood where The Doctor had left her, still smiling. _Two weeks. It's going to feel like forever_.


End file.
